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It is with great sadness that all of us at Shakespeare North have heard of Sir Ken’s death. He was excited to think of a Shakespearean Playhouse being built so near to Knotty Ash, his much loved home, and had looked forward to gracing our stage, bringing laughter and happiness to our audiences. He will always be an inspiration to those who play Shakespeare’s comic roles.

Renowned theatre bible The Stage has published a great feature on Shakespeare North and the plans for the playhouse in Prescot.

Titled ‘The birth of Merseyside’s Shakespeare North playhouse’, the piece, written by Catherine Jones, tells the story of how after two decades of planning and multiple redesigns, building is about to get underway. Key figures in the project tell the author “how the long-held aspiration to construct a Jacobean-style theatre has come to fruition – a fitting tribute to the celebrated playwright’s legacy on Merseyside”

Via KnowsleyNews.co.uk: Knowsley Council’s Cabinet has agreed the appointment of Kier Construction as preferred construction partner to build the iconic Shakespeare North Playhouse in Prescot town centre.

The new theatre, education and exhibition centre will be a major visitor attraction, the first of its kind in Knowsley and the Liverpool City Region.

Full planning permission was granted in April 2016 and again in November 2017 when an updated design for the building was approved.

Unique building

The unique building will sit in the heart of Prescot town centre and will include a 350 seat theatre, education facilities, performance studio, exhibition and education centre, office accommodation, a coffee shop and bar.

As part of the contract, Kier Construction will work with Knowsley-based supply chain companies to maximise the power of the Knowsley pound, strengthening the local economy. 11 new apprenticeship opportunities and seven new jobs will be offered through Knowsley Works and work placement opportunities, training, education and community activities for local schools and residents will also be available.

Once complete, the Shakespeare North Playhouse will create 19.5 new direct jobs and 203 off site permanent posts while bringing £5.3m GVA to the Liverpool City Region and attracting approximately 111,000 visitors per year.

Cllr Andy Moorhead, Leader of Knowsley Council said:

“I am delighted that Kier Construction has been appointed to build the Shakespeare North Playhouse. This is another important milestone for the project and I am looking forward to seeing the start of construction.

“I am proud to lead this Council in bringing such rich cultural and educational experiences to our residents and the wider community. It is a really exciting time for Prescot, Knowsley and the Liverpool City Region.”

John O’Callaghan, Kier Construction Northern managing director, said:

“We’re excited to be delivering this fantastic scheme for Knowsley Council which builds on our success in the arts and leisure sector, including the recently completed refurbishment and redevelopment of Chester Storyhouse.

“Sitting in the heart of the town, Shakespeare North Playhouse will be a real asset to the local community when complete and we’re looking forward to working with the local supply chain to deliver this project and develop the skills of local people with the creation of 11 new apprenticeships.”

Historic links and education

Plans for a theatre in Prescot are more than 10 years in the making. The vision of Shakespeare North is to celebrate the Elizabethan and Jacobean heritage of Knowsley, a place with historic links to the Earl’s of Derby and Lord Strange’s men. The Shakespeare North Playhouse will bring Shakespearean theatre back to the area that has an important place in the history of Elizabethan drama.

The proposed site of the Playhouse on the current Mill Street car park has been thoroughly researched and is very close to the site of the only purpose built playhouse outside of London in Elizabethan times.

The Shakespeare North Playhouse will run its own Masters Degree Programme in Shakespearean Performance Practice where students will be able to train in a reproduction of the 1629 Inigo Jones “Cock pit at Court” theatre alongside professional performance companies and actors. The Masters programme will be validated by Liverpool John Moores University.

The Playhouse will also offer significant development opportunities for the local community, from early-childhood to older years, and a comprehensive education programme for schools.

Funding

Funding of £11m has been secured, including £6m from Knowsley Council and £5m from the Government, which has been endorsed by Arts Council England. A Full Business Case has been submitted to the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority’s Single Investment Fund for funding of £6.5m which will be considered shortly, and applications for further grant funding totalling £1m from other sources are also under way.

Knowsley Council’s Cabinet also agreed for the council to underwrite the funding gap over the construction period to enable the works to start whilst philanthropic, foundation and public fundraising continues.

Next steps

Pre-construction work will start in April 2018 and building work is expected to be complete by William Shakespeare’s birthday in April 2020 with the theatre opening to guests and students later that year.

Guy SichContractor appointed for Shakespeare North Playhouse02.02.2018

Revised plans for a Shakespeare theatre in Prescot town centre have been given the go ahead.

Full planning permission for the iconic Shakespeare North Playhouse was granted in April 2016 and now an updated design for the building has been approved by Knowsley Council’s Planning Committee (on Thursday 9 November 2017).

The plans for the building in the heart of Prescot town centre include a 350 seat theatre, education facilities, performance studio, exhibition area, office accommodation, a small shop, a coffee shop and bar and an outdoor performance area to accommodate an audience of 150.

Updated design

The modified design now includes a dedicated Exhibition and Education Centre, the design of the external glazing façade has been refreshed and the building will no longer include a basement.

Cllr Graham Morgan, Knowsley’s Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Economic Development said:

“This is another significant milestone for this iconic development and a positive reflection of the council’s ambitious growth plans. The council, its private sector partners, the local community and local businesses are all working together on bold plans to conserve the history of Prescot while transforming the town into an even more attractive place for people to visit and spend time.

The Shakespeare North Playhouse will help us to achieve this, attracting visitors and investors to Prescot, Knowsley and the wider Liverpool City Region.”

Elizabethan links

Plans for a theatre in Prescot are more than 10 years in the making. The vision of Shakespeare North is to celebrate the Elizabethan heritage of Knowsley and bring Shakespearean theatre back to the area that has an important place in the history of Elizabethan drama.

The proposed site of the Playhouse on the current Mill street car park has been carefully considered and researched and is very close to the site of the only purpose built playhouse outside of London in Elizabethan times.

The Shakespeare North Playhouse will run its own Masters Programme in Shakespearean Performance Practice allowing students to train in a real theatre with real actors and will be validated by Liverpool John Moores University.

The Playhouse will also offer development opportunities for the local community and a broad education programme for schools.

Funding

Knowsley Council has contributed £6m towards this development and the National Government has contributed £5m, which has been endorsed by Arts Council England. Knowsley Council has submitted a bid to Liverpool City Region Combined Authority for £6.5m. The remaining funding will come from philanthropic giving, private donations, foundation fundraising and further grants applications managed by the Shakespeare North Playhouse Trust.

Next steps

The main contractor will be appointed in December and pre-construction work will start from February 2018 with all construction expected to be completed by April 2020. The first Masters students are expected to start their studies in October 2020.

Before construction, there will be an archaeological investigation of the site, starting on 4 December. Earlier site investigations discovered remains of medieval and post-medieval artefacts.

A year and a bit after the brilliant news that planning approval had been granted for the Shakespeare North playhouse, here’s a little look back at the support the project attracted and continues to attract.

All the world’s a stage – and I am delighted to be a patron of this wonderful project

Sir Ken lives in Knotty Ash on the outskirts of Liverpool, just a short drive from the site of the Shakespeare North Playhouse. He is a passionate advocate for live theatre and has been entertaining audiences up and down the country for over 60 years. He made his professional debut at the Empire Theatre, Nottingham in September 1954 and went onto become a hugely popular performer: He made his debut at the London Palladium in 1965 and enjoyed an unprecedented 42 week sell-out season which earned him a Variety Club Award.

Sir Ken made his Shakespearean debut as Malvolio in Twelfth Night at the Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool in 1971, a role for which he was acclaimed. His film debut, meanwhile, was as Yorick in Kenneth Branagh’s 1997 version of Hamlet. In 2005 he addressed an audience in Stratford-upon-Avon for the Royal Shakespeare Company. His talk on Shakespeare and Humour was, given his famous live shows that often lasted five hours, appropriately titled ‘A fellow of infinite jest’.

Sir Ken was knighted by the Duke of Cambridge in March 2017 for his outstanding career in entertainment and for his substantial work with charities.

Guy SichSir Ken Dodd agrees to become a patron of Shakespeare North05.18.2017

Arts Council England has confirmed the £5 million HM Treasury funding for the Shakespeare North Playhouse to be built in Prescot town centre.

The funding was pledged by the Chancellor of the Exchequer as part of the budget announcement in May 2016. Since then, Knowsley Council and Shakespeare North Trust have presented a robust and sustainable business plan to Arts Council England to endorse the funding.

John Flaherty, Executive Director (Place) at Knowsley Council said:

“This is a fantastic achievement and a key milestone for Shakespeare North Trust and Knowsley Council. Not only does it mean we now have £11m of confirmed funding, but it is also a huge seal of approval and vote of confidence from the Arts Council that the Shakespeare theatre and education centre is a viable and sustainable business.

“It will also strengthen the Outline Business Case submission to the Combined Authority Single Investment Fund to secure a further £6.5m funding towards the development.”

The funding will be used towards creating an iconic 330-seat Jacobean court style theatre and study centre, education and community resources and exhibition area, the supporting administrative offices and catering and hospitality facilities.

Subject to funding, construction of the new playhouse is expected to start January 2018.

As reported on Knowsley News, historic items dating back to as early as the 14th century have been found at the site where the new Shakespeare North Playhouse will be built in Prescot:

“The artefacts were unearthed during survey work at the site on Mill Street, which involved detailed investigation of the soil and rock. The results of this survey work will help to inform the design of the theatre and education centre, providing greater clarity of the land conditions.

Archaeologist, Dr. Rob Philpott was on site to oversee the test digging and to investigate the ground for potential archaeological interest. Artefacts found date from the 4th to 17th centuries and were probably made in Prescot or very close by. They included pieces of kitchenware, earthenware, jars for storing items or hold water and fragments of a tobacco pipe.

The February edition of the Stanley Estates Magazine details some recent Shakespearean events at Knowsley Hall, home of the Earl of Derby and central to the Shakespeare North story.

From an international symposium of Shakespearean scholars from around the world, to a performance of Much Ado About Nothing, to a recreation of the Twelfth Night Masque, Knowsley Hall has been embracing it’s Shakespearean heritage. There is more in the magazine, here.

Gordon Brown has been a keen supporter of the project since 2008 when he invited a group of Shakespeare North Trustees to Downing Street to discuss their vision.

In agreeing to become a patron he writes:

It is a privilege and honour to support Shakespeare North. I am particularly attracted to the project because it will combine culture -and our attempt to understand and inform about our literary roots-with economic regeneration in an area that deserves to be more confident about its future. You will change the lives of thousands of young people by giving them a chance to develop their talents.

In his current role as UN Special Envoy for Global Education, Gordon works closely with key partners to help galvanise support for the UN’s Global Initiative on Education, Education First, which aims to achieve quality, relevance, and inclusive education for every child.

He served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2007 to 2010 and is widely credited with preventing a second Great Depression through his stewardship of the 2009 London G20 summit. He was one of the first leaders during the global crisis to initiate calls for global financial action, while introducing a range of rescue measures in the UK. Previously, he served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1997 to 2007, making him the longest-serving Chancellor in modern history. During ten years at the Treasury, Gordon masterminded many of Labour’s proudest achievements including the Minimum Wage, Sure Start, the Winter Fuel Allowance, the Child Trust Fund, the Child Tax Credit and paid paternity leave. His role in government continued to shape his views on the importance of education as a fundamental right of every child in the world and the key to unlocking better health, greater social stability, more rights and opportunities for women and a higher standard of living.

Guy SichFormer Prime Minister Gordon Brown has agreed to become a Patron of Shakespeare North02.22.2017